Feb. 21: Diversity and Difference

LMU and Place Series: "Diversity and Difference at the Catholic University" 

February 21, 2018

12:40 pm

St. Robert's Auditorium

What does it mean to be "diverse"?
How and why should we be inclusive?How does LMU's mission impact how we view diversity?

Universities thrive in an environment of diverse perspectives and views, and Catholic universities increasingly reflect the full diversity of contemporary American society: religious, ethnic, national, gender, and otherwise. However, as Catholic universities embrace this diversity, they must navigate an environment in which there are often declining percentages of faculty, staff, and students with strong background connections to Catholicism and the Catholic intellectual traditions. LMU also faces unique challenges as it grapples with national and local political contexts, addresses conversations such as #BlackatLMU and the recent ASLMU Snapchat controversy, and considers how to best serve vulnerable communities such as DACA students.

How do Catholic universities navigate the interplay between institutional identity and pluralistic demographics? And how does LMU's specific mission and context inform our response to questions of diversity and inclusion?

Join us for a one of a kind roundtable and collaborative discussion as LMU community members -- faculty, staff, and students -- reflect on what we're doing well, what we can improve, and where we go from here.

Open to all LMU community members. Lunch provided.

Panelists:

Robbin Crabtree (Moderator), Dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts

Kim Harris, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theological Studies

Holli Levitsky, Professor of English and Director of Jewish Studies

Brenda Quintanilla, POLS and CHST '19

Martina Ramirez, Professor of Biology

Czarina Ramsay, Assistant Dean, Ethnic & Intercultural Services

About the series:

During the spring 2018 semester, ACTI will take up several topics that are of particular relevance to LMU in its particular physical, historical, and societal location.  The "LMU and Place" series asks participants to consider the challenges and opportunities that face us in virtue of our placement here and now, including the necessity of grappling with contested and problematic historical legacies; the ethnically and religiously diverse, and largely immigrant, context of Southern California; and the interplay between LMU's institutional Catholic and Jesuit identity and the increasingly pluralistic demographics of its faculty, staff, and students.  Other "LMU and Place" events: "Coming to Terms with the Past" and  "A Conversation with Archbishop Gomez."